And We Meet Again

17. Opening Up

I'm dedicating this chapter to my most awesome reader & commenter (not sure, if that's a word) IMUSTBECRAZYY. Thank you soooo much for your encouraging words in your messages & in all your comments. You are awesome, seriously! I really hope that I would be able to write this story just as nicely so I can hear such wonderful words from you always. :) Your comments mean a lot to me. :)

Comment your views, maybe you'll get the next dedication. :)

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CHAPTER - 17

OPENING UP

It felt like a repeat telecast of last night, when this night too, I couldn't sleep even for a second. Tossing and turning was all I could do. Trying all sleeping postures in the hopes of making my eyes, most importantly, my mind sleep for the day seemed like my mission that required to be accomplished. I tried to remember all the history crap that I had studied in school; it used to work the best in getting loads of amount of sleep in teenage years, but tonight even that failed.

I got up from my bed and cursed the same bed that I once used to find the best place in the entire world for a peaceful slumber. I went out of my room and in the next one minute, found myself nervously standing in front of Kim's room.

'What the hell am I doing here?' I asked myself. But it's a well known fact by now that I sucked at telepathy, so, I didn't get any reply from myself.

Staring at the closed brown wooden ply in front of me, I wondered if Kim was awake too. My eyes went to the little gap between the floor and the door to see if any ray of light was coming from inside her room, but it seemed all dark. Her expressions while watching the pictures kept coming back in front of my eyes and I knew that I had to know what the matter was.

Unknowingly, my hand went up and the next thing I knew was that I lightly knocked on her door.

"Kim?" I whisper-yelled as I didn't want to wake up anyone in the middle of the night and find me standing in front of Kim's room. "Kim?" I repeated myself when she didn't answer. Very lightly, I pushed the door and found it already open. Cautiously, I stepped inside and said, "Kimberly Jones?" I was hoping of getting a reply from her even in her deep slumber upon hearing her full name from me, but here too, my expectations failed.

The room was dark and I switched on a dim light on entering inside.

It was empty.

Kim was not there.

Confused, I did the next thing that every sane man on television does; check the bathroom. She was not there too.

Running a hand through my already messy hair, I muttered with a lightly clenched jaw, "Where are you, Kim?" I started moving out of her room and told myself, "Calm down, Keith. She's not a kid, she must be downstairs."

Following my instinct, I went downstairs keeping in mind not to make any noise. There was no one in the living room, which was lighted up by the same dim light this night too. I went to the kitchen and she was not there too.

"Where are you, Kim?" I muttered under my breath as I looked around the kitchen. Just then, a cold wind blew past me making me shiver slightly. My eyes went to the windows which could have been the source of this wind, but they were shut down. I turned towards the backside of the kitchen and found the door of the backyard open.

It was strange.

We seldom keep the backyard door open during the day and keeping it open at night was completely out of the question. Frowning in confusion, I went towards the door and stepped out in the backyard amidst the cold chilled winds, which made me regret not carrying any pullover while leaving the warmth of my room.